Our lesson this morning is found
in verses 16 through 26 of Mark chapter 15. Let's read together the Word of God. Mark chapter 15 beginning with
verse 16. And the soldiers led him away
into the hall called Praetorium. And they called together the
whole band, and they clothed him with purple, and plaited
a crown of thorns, and put it about his head, and began to
salute him, Hail, King of the Jews. And they smote him on the
head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and bowing their knees,
worshipped him. And when they had mocked him,
They took off the purple from him and put his own clothes on
him and led him out to crucify him. And they compelled one Simon,
a sub-Indian, who passed by, coming out of the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus. Now these two men are mentioned
in the book of Acts, and most of the writers think that they
were believers, and so was Simon. And they were allowed on this
day to get out and gather wood in the fields a certain distance
from Jerusalem, and without being charged of breaking the Sabbath
day. So that's what they believed he was doing. why he was coming out of that
country. And they bring him onto the place, Galgotha, which is
being interpreted the place of the skull. And they gave him
to drink wine mingled with myrrh, but he received it not. And when
they crucified him, they parted his garments, casting lots upon
them. whatever man should take. And
it was the third hour, about nine in the morning. And this
was the time of the morning sacrifice. And the superscription of his
accusation was written over the King of the Jews. That's the
title of the lesson today, Superscription of accusation. What Pilate commanded
to be written above Christ crucified was Jesus of Nazareth, the King
of the Jews. Matthew calls it his accusation. Luke called it a superscription,
and John called it his title, which Pilate wrote above him.
But Mark calls it the superscription of his accusation. And oh, how
these Jews protested this writing. They did not want that writing
on that cross. They didn't want this man in
any sense of the word to be recognized as their king. He was a joke
to them. He was an imposter to them. And
they said, don't write that on there. Write, he said he was
the king of the Jews. And Pilate said, what I've written,
I've written. The crucifixion of Christ is
the manifestation of the glory of God. This is what's taking
place here. God is going to manifest his
glory in the salvation of sinners through the death of his son,
through the substitutionary work of his son. And it's on this
cross that He'll manifest the glory of His love, and His mercy,
and His grace, and His righteousness, and His justice, and the awful
wrath of God against sin. Some say, well, I just don't
believe that a good God would punish sin. You need to take
another look at the cross. God killed his son. Those men
couldn't kill him. He tells you that in John 10,
no man taketh my life from me. I'm God come into the flesh.
You can't take my life from me. But I give it freely. I lay it
down freely. And he did this in obedience
to the will of God. And the crucifixion of Christ
is where wisdom is born. You're not going to find wisdom
in the law. You're not going to find wisdom
keeping ceremonies. You're not going to find wisdom
just reading a book. Wisdom is manifested at the cross. Paul said, come among you Corinthians,"
he said, I determined not to know anything save Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. I didn't come to you with excellency
of knowledge. Somebody looked at him and said,
boy, he's been reading a lot of books. No, that's not what
they said. They said he'd been keeping company
with the Lord. And if you read and study carefully
the last eight verses of 1 Peter 1, You'll see that this is the
very seed of regeneration. And not only that, but it's the
sincere milk of the Word which the newborn soul craves. This
is what he wants. So I don't want to rush through
his crucifixion as though it were just another of a number
of facts about the Lord. It's the very crux of the matter.
And in the verses I've read to you this morning, it's very obvious
that the thing they despise the most about Jesus of Nazareth
is his authority. It's his authority. Now either
God is God. And his son seated where he put
him, on his holy hill of Zion, king of Zion. Now he's either
Lord or he's a hoax. There's no gray area. There's
nothing in between. He either is or he's not. Now this is the issue. This is
the issue. They despised his authority by
which he exercised his ministry without their approval and without
their consent. He never asked them anything. Back then, when he was 12 years
old, he left them speechless. They didn't know what to think
about a 12-year-old boy who knew the Bible better than they did.
They decided it all. And then later on, when they
got all puffed up, they said, well, we're going to get the
doctors of the law. We're going to get these men
who studied that law inside out, these lawyers, and we're going
to send them down there. We'll catch him in his speech.
And he sent them away with their tail tucked between their legs. In Matthew 21, 23 it says, the
Jews demanded that he tell them by what authority he did these
things. By what, who gave you this authority? This teaching and healing and
ministering to the multitude. Who gave you this authority?
In Mark 1, verse 22, it says, they were astonished at his doctrine,
for he taught them as one that had authority and not like the
scribes. In Mark 1, verse 27, it says,
they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves,
saying, what thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For
with authority he commandeth even the unclean spirits, and
they do obey him. And that was just the tip of
the iceberg. He stood up in that ship out
at sea and commanded the winds and the waves, lay down. And they lay down. He's Lord. He's Lord. And that's what this
is all about. He commands even the winds and
the waves, the elements to change at his word. Water, you're now
wine. He changes matter. Here's a few
fishes and a few loaves. And he passes it out, and they
go out in a multitude. And they got their little basket
and their hand in fishes. And they just keep going. Now
what I mean, all I had was a little sack to start with. And I'm on
about 600 people. And I look down my basket, and
it's still full. And I just keep passing it out. Who has that kind of authority?
The king. He said he was king of the Jews.
He did more than that. He manifested that he was king
of the Jews. Here's a dead man. Get up. And he gets up. Who has that
kind of authority? We might ask the same thing they
ask if it was being done in our day. What kind of thing is this? Even the dead stand up and walk
at his command. He ministered where he pleased,
he ministered to whom he pleased, he ministered when he pleased,
and none could stay his hand or even ask him what he was doing.
He did what he pleased. You go in there, they'll kill
you. He went in there, but they didn't kill him. They would have,
but he walked through their midst. His time was not yet. Oh, how his authority brought
out their enmity and caused them to despise him. Yet his authority
is a precious thing to the believer. Aren't you glad he has that authority? Especially in these days of of
what we're seeing going on in this country. Ain't you glad
they don't sit on the throne? He does. And it'll be all right. It'll be all right. He's ordering
all things. He's arranging all things. And that's a good thing to the
believer. That's a precious thing to the believer. He has the authority
to save his soul. When He prayed in John chapter
17, He said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth. Huh? And He said, I'm about to go
to the cross. And He said, glorify Your Son, that Your Son may also
glorify You, as You have given Him power over all flesh. Now listen, that He might give eternal life
to as many as Thou hast given Him. This authority. He was in authority before he
ever left heaven. He created the world and the
world came into being in his voice. He didn't come here to
have authority. God gave him the special authority
for the salvation of his sheep. And that's what He tells the
Father. I'm going to glorify You. You go glorify Your Son,
that Your Son may glorify You, even as You've given Him power
over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many
as Thou hast given Him. That's what this authority is
all about. He told them after He rose from the dead, and they
walked up on the mountain, He was about to step on that cloud
and be carried off into glory, and He turned to His disciples
and He said, All power in heaven and earth given unto me. Huh? Now you bow down and quiver. No, I ain't what he said. You
go preach. You go preach. Not that ragtag
bunch of fishermen out there that cause this thing to be effectual.
It's the king of glory. Now you go preach. You go do
this. You go minister. You do what
I told you to do. And I've got the power to make
it effectual. His power is a precious thing
to the believer. Our Lord must be, in order to
glorify God, He must be manifest in three offices. First of all
is that prophet of whom Moses prophesied that should come. One like unto himself, but greater. One to manifest the redemptive
will of God and accomplish deliverance and establish worship, true worship,
and the righteousness and justice of God. And that he did. That he did. And everything that
we know about God is manifested to us through this man. He's that prophet. He said in Hebrews chapter 1,
God in various ways and sundry times, He said He spoke to you
by the prophets. God didn't have anything to say
to the people apart from prophets. Whatever His will was, whatever
His judgment was, whatever it was He wanted them to know, He
told His prophet and sent His prophet. But He said, in these last days,
He's spoken unto us by His Son, the Prophet. And then secondly,
the Messiah, the promised Redeemer, must be a high priest. He must be the high priest. In
Hebrews 6.19, it says, which hope we have as an anchor of
the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth in that within
the veil, whether the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus,
now listen, made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. He was made a high priest not
according to the law but by the commandment of God and because of an endless life.
He's a high priest forever. unto whom God said thou art a
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Well, what's that got to do with
us? Well, listen to what he says next. Wherefore, he's able to
save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. To be the Christ promised
by God throughout the scriptures, he must be God's prophet, He
must be God's priest and he shall be God's king. The title or superscription
or accusation, whatever you want to call it, under which Jesus
of Nazareth must die is that of the king. This is God's king. The king by his own decree, which
he said upon his holy hill of Zion. And this psalm, Psalm chapter
2, if you read through it, All that it says concerning the
kings of the earth and the people under their authority, and all
of their despisings of his authority, and all of their actions toward
him, are plainly applied to all those connected with the death
of Jesus of Nazareth. You can read about it in Acts
chapter 4 verses 25 through 28. He applies that whole psalm.
to Christ, and he said, when you got together, you did what
God's hand and God's counsel determined before to be done. Peter said in Acts 3.14, but
you denied the Holy One and the just and desired a murderer to
be granted unto you, and you killed the Prince of Life, whom
God raised from the dead, whereof we're all witnesses. His name,
through faith in his name, hath made this man strong, whom ye
see and know. Yea, the faith which is by him
hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of your all.
Now watch this. And now, brethren, I want that
through ignorance ye did it, as did your rulers. Those things
which God before showed by the mouth of his prophets, that Christ
should suffer, he hath so fulfilled. Repent ye therefore, and be converted,
that your sins might be blotted out when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord. You killed God's
king, but you didn't kill him. God raised him from the dead,
and he's seated on the throne of glory. And now you're gonna
have to go stand before him. And they said, oh, what are we
gonna do? What are we gonna do? Jesus Christ is the Son of God,
and as the Son of God, Paul said, he thought it not robbery to
be equal with God. Before his incarnation, Jesus
Christ had authority over all things. He was and is absolute
God over all. And he manifested this through
creation and providence and the preservation of this world. But nowhere is his lordship truly
seen as it is on the cross. That's where he glorified God
in the office as king. To this end, Paul said, he both
died and was revived, and God seated him at the throne that
he might be lord of the dead and the living. The Lordship of Jesus Christ
was given to him as our representative and our federal head to secure
for us that eternal life which God was pleased to give us. Our
Lord would not abuse or compromise this power in any way, shape,
or form, but exercised it for the purpose for which it was
given. And that was to give life to
chosen sinners. That was the issue then, and
it's the issue now. Listen to this scripture. I quoted
part of it to you a while ago. He said, no man liveth to himself,
and no man dieth to himself. You mean any man? That's exactly
what it says. No man. No man. You mean the Ayatollah? Yeah,
the Ayatollah. No man liveth to himself, no
man dieth to himself, for whether we live, we live unto the Lord,
and whether we die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore,
or die, we are the Lord's. We're under His authority. He uses these vessels of wrath. He endures them. God could burn
them up on the spot if He's so pleased. But He's not pleased
to do that. He uses them. to accomplish his
purpose. Even his enemies he uses to accomplish
his purpose. For to this end Christ both died
and arose and revived that he might be Lord of the dead and
the living. And there's nothing beyond his
authority, all power in heaven and earth given unto him. Paul
said we're complete in him which is the head of all principality
and power. There's nothing out there more
powerful than him. There's nothing out there that's
not subject unto him. The devil is his devil. You can
read it in the scripture. He came down and put a collar
on him with a chain. He can go just exactly as far
as the Lord will allow him to go. And he pulls him back. And
that has to do with all those who are influenced by him and
the ministry, this antichrist ministry that they've minister
to men. Listen to this, who art thou
that judges another man's servant? To his own master he standeth
or he falleth. Yea, God will make him stand.
God will make him stand. We can't stand ourselves, let
alone make somebody else stand, but God can. Now listen to this. Paul's already
talked about him who thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. Eternal presence and glory with
the Father. Had no beginning, has no end.
He thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. and took on him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found
in passion as a man, he humbled himself, and become obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also
hath highly exalted him, given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow at things
in heaven, and things in the earth, and things under the earth.
and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father. And even so, we're exhorted,
having stated this, having told us, let this mind be in you that
was also in him, then he exhorts us to be obedient with this as
our motive, understanding that it's God who worketh in us, both
to will and to do of his good pleasure. Will a man be submissive? He will if God works in him. Will a man be a generous giver? He will if God works in him. Will a man be submissive to the
means that God has ordained? He will if God works in him. But if he don't work in him,
he won't. Not very long. Not very long. And that's going
to be our discussion here in the Minor Prophets in just a
minute. Can two walk together except they be agreed? Will a
man be in agreement with God if God works in him? If God works
in him? Oh, may the Lord teach us this
in this day.